In a shopping cart of the type noted above, the basket has side, front, and bottom walls made of welded steel wires or of molded plastic panels or molded in one piece from a plastic material. Typically, the handle is made from one piece of bent steel tubing.
As hinged to the basket, the gate can be inwardly pivoted about a hinge axis at the upper edge of the basket, so as to permit a similar basket of a similar shopping cart to nest within the basket. Commonly, the gate is made of welded steel wires, which include a hinge wire extending along its upper edge. It is common for the gate to carry a foldable seat for an infant or a small child.
Conventionally, split rings of a type known as a hog ring are clamped around the hinge wire, near where the end portions of the hinge wire extend into inwardly opening apertures in the generally upwardly extending tubular portions of the handle. The hog rings are used to limit axial movement of the hinge wire and to retain the end portions of the hinge wire within those portions of the handle. Alternatively, it is known to use one hog ring, near where one end portion of the hinge wire extends into such an aperture.
In extensive or rough usage of the shopping cart, such a hog ring can open accidentally, whereupon the gate can be accidentally disassembled from the handle.